Gamecock baseball's season came to an end Monday after a loss to Arkansas at Baum Stadium. The team came up one win short of a trip to the College World Series, dropping game three of their Super Regional.
The 14-4 loss ends a season that started slow but ended with a strong postseason performance. Head coach Mark Kingston's all-time record is 17-15 in Super Regional action.
Jacob Olson gave a standout performance in the postseason, as he posted his 11th and 12th home runs of the season. Olson had 20 doubles on the year, and more are likely to come next year in his final season at South Carolina.
This senior class was able to experience falling just one win short of playing in the College World Series. Despite the missed opportunity, Kingston lead his team through a widely-praised turnaround in his first year at South Carolina.
The Gamecocks have much to look back on as they reflect on their season, such as winning their final five SEC series, advancing to the NCAA Tournament, winning the Greenville Regional and taking Arkansas to a third game of the Super Regional.
Five seniors will say goodbye to their South Carolina team: Jonah Bride, Justin Row, Madison Stokes, Hunter Taylor and Matt Williams.
Stokes credits Kingston and other staff members for sticking by the team through each battle, no matter what. Even though Stokes will no longer wear garnet and white, he says he will never forget the friendships he has built.
“Just how hard we fought," Stokes said. "The closer we got together ... we created a family here.”
Kingston lead his team to a final record of 37-26 in the 2018 season.